The first thing I check is the back, not the front. Flip it over and look at how it is actually put together. A thin plank or a sheet of veneer glued onto something lighter than it looks will tell on itself within a year, warping at the edges or pulling away from the frame. Solid wood, or a well finished panel with proper joints, sits flat against the wall and stays that way no matter what the heating does to the room over a winter.
Finish matters more than shape or size here. Pale woods and simple whitewashed or natural finishes are the easiest to live with, because they read as calm rather than busy and they do not fight with anything else on the wall. Warm mid tones, the honey and walnut range, work almost everywhere too and age well, picking up a bit of character rather than looking tired. Where it gets harder is anything stained very dark or glossy, or carved in a way that is trying hard to be a focal point. Those pieces can look striking in one specific room and completely wrong once you move house, because they carry a strong personality that does not travel. The cheap versions usually give themselves away through the finish first, a flat printed wood effect or a stain that looks even and plasticky under any kind of light. A good piece has some unevenness in the grain and the color, because that is what real wood does.
Where this kind of piece genuinely struggles is anywhere humid, so bathrooms without good ventilation and kitchens right behind the stove are both asking for trouble, warping and cracking over time no matter how well it was made to start with. It is also the wrong call for a wall that already has a lot going on, patterned wallpaper, a gallery of framed photos, a busy shelf underneath. Wooden wall art wants a bit of plain space around it to actually read as anything. It earns its place best in rooms with some quiet to them, a hallway, above a bed, a reading corner, a living room with plain walls and a sofa that is not trying to compete. It suits older homes with some texture already, and it suits rented apartments too, since it is one of the few pieces of wall decor that looks intentional without needing paint or anything permanent behind it.
The one mistake worth avoiding is hanging it without checking the wall first. A heavy solid piece on a hollow wall with just a nail will come down eventually, and it is never a quiet fall.